Top Industry Highlights

Encoura

Enrollments in higher education have declined for the past five years, while online program enrollments continue to grow. According to new data from the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements, some states are better markets than others. In particular, states with low population density — such as Alaska, Montana and Wyoming — export more online students than states with higher populations. Other states that lose online students to schools in other regions are those that are smaller and close to many other states, like Delaware and New Jersey.

Campus Technology

Class Central recently issued its annual review of MOOC stats and trends, reporting that online learning “is evolving from a technology expected to disrupt higher education to one that generates revenue with tiered services targeted to lifelong learners.” More than 800 universities utilize MOOCs, which attract around 78 million students to their online classes. The popularity of MOOC platforms continues to grow, and institutions that want to remain competitive should consider adopting the model.

MarketWatch

In 2015, fewer than 10 percent of American college students studied education. This number represents a massive decline since 1975, when 22 percent of college students majored in education. The future numbers aren’t promising either: Just 4.6 percent of college freshman planned to major in education in May 2017. This indicates that the present teacher shortage is expected to continue. This is due to low salaries, standardization and early retirement.